


Wanderlust

by agentcxrter



Series: SSFA Writing Challenge [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: 21st Century, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1387255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentcxrter/pseuds/agentcxrter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking back, running away with Leonard McCoy was a really stupid idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wanderlust

**Author's Note:**

> Word prompt: airport
> 
> Just for a little heads up: There are some mentions of domestic violence/child abuse in here, so fair warning.

It's often said that when you're young, and in love, you don't really make the wisest decisions - you stay out late, slack off on your responsibilities, and give all that you have to a person that you haven't really known all that long.

That being said: looking back, running away with Leonard McCoy was really, really stupid.

 

Jim's dad had been a pilot, for one of the biggest airlines in the nation, which for some fucked up reason, was stationed in the middle of Riverside, Iowa. George Kirk had always had a 'look before you leap' nature, which had always gotten him(and Jim) in all sorts of trouble. Ultimately, it had also caused his death. He had been flying one of the new arrvial jets, when he jerked the controls and crashed it straight into a god damn field.

Jim figured he'd gotten his idiotic nature from him, too.

It had been all tears and whiskey through the early parts of childhood, with Jim often waking up to hear his mother, Winona, crying her eyes out on the back porch. As sick it was, the sound of her sobs became his lullaby.

When he was nine years old, his mother married Frank Olsen, who was some guy who occupied the cubicle next to hers at the customer service building where she worked. Jim wasn't sure how Frank and his mother met - hell, he only met the guy once or twice before he was suddenly being told he was the damn ring-bearer. Nine years old, and Jim didn't trust a bone in his soon-to-be stepfather's body. Those instincts soon proved right, with the first year of marriage going smoothly, until Frank began drinking. It was only light amounts at first, a beer or two every night, but it soon became heavier and heavier, and Jim's new lullaby became the sound of bottles breaking and his mother's muffled whimpers.

It went on throughout his childhood, and through his teen years. Jim excelled in school, he always had, but cancelled it out with the amount of fights he got into at school. He'd come home with a black eye and bruised knuckles, with Winona looking at him pitifully while Frank insisted on making his eyes match. Soon enough, though, he patented a fool prrof method of avoiding the abuse: sneaking out. Every night, as soon as he was sure Frank had passed out (the son of a bitch had ears like no other,) he'd ghost down the stairs and out the front door. There, he would wander, sometimes hanging out on the swings, or even dwon by the poorly guarded runway by the airport. He'd wander and wander, until the moon gave way to the early streaks of dawn across the sky. He'd be back through the window and in his bed until he was due to get up, and no one had ever noticed. It was foolproof.

One night, Jim decided he wanted to shake things up a bit. He did the same routine: listened, stairs, door - then, freedom. And he wanders until he sees the neon sign of a diner, not far from where he was standing. Oh, what the hell, Jim thought, suddenly grateful he'd lifted that twenty off of Frank earlier that day. He walked down to the diner, and stepped in. He was overwhelmed by the overpowering smell of greasy food and aesthetical horrors of mismatched 50's decor. Trying to hide his sudden shift in mood, he slid in a booth towards the back and pondered his surroundings. Black and white checkered floor, like they had at the barbershop he used to get his hair cut at when he was little. Now, he cut his own, with the help of kitchen scissors and a dirty mirror. For a second, he let his mind wander to when that happened, when his mom was all smiles, with less fear in her eyes. He wondered what it would have been like, if it wasn't for that damn je-

"Kid, I've been standin' here for five damn minutes. If you're not gonna order something, get the hell out," a southern voice suddenly barked at him, making him jump. "Leonard, remember what your dad said?" a female voice suddenly erupted from the kitchen area. "Be nice."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Miss Christine," the waiter - Leonard apparently, was his name. "I'll try." With raised eyebrows, he sudenly adopted a sugary-sweet tone in his voice as he said, "Can I help you this fine evenin', sir?"

The tone was so ridiculous that Jim snorted. "Yes, you can," he said, deciding two could play at the making-your-voice-sound-like-a-demented-Barbie-doll game. "Just coffee, thanks."

He even bats his eyelashes, because he's a fucking douchebag.

Leonard puts away the notepad he had gotten out, and flashes him a totally fake smile. "Be right back with that, sweetheart," he drawls, strolling away behind the counter. Jim flashes him a smile back, and turns his gaze back to the checkered floor. Before he can get lost in his thoughts again, however, he's distracted by a coffee mug sliding towards him, accompanied by a bowl of sugar packets and individual creamers.

"I really couldn't give a shit about how you take it."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Jim replies, emptying two sugar packets and creamers in his coffee, and notices that Leonard is now sitting across from him in the booth.

"Don't you have like, a job to do?"

"Nope," Leonard replies. "I'm just here tonight because it's Friday, and I didn't have shit to do. Plus, I never sleep. Have a problem with it."

"Me too," Jim found himself saying, and the sensible part of his brain wondered why the hell he was telling this guy that; he'd known him for barely five minutes. Winona didn't even know about his insomnia. But, at the same time, he felt so comfortable around him, and it was a sensation that was altogether new to him. As the night progressed, he learned that Leonard's dad owns this restaurant, and Leonard hates it. "I want to be a doctor, - why are you laughing?" he says, seeing Jim's smirk. "Oh, you're so getting a doctor nickname, now," Jim said.

"Oh god, no. I hate nicknames."

"Too bad. You're getting one."

"Dammit kid - wait. What even is your name?"

Jim pauses, and looks up.

"Jim. Jim Kirk."

Leonard smiles.

"McCoy. Leonard McCoy."

"I gathered, from Miss Christine back there."

"Shut your mouth, kid."

He learns more about Leonard McCoy; he's originally from Georgia (which explains his accent) and that's where his mother chose to live, after her and Leonard's dad became divorced. He's three years older than Jim, making him 21 while Jim is 18. He learns that his favorite color is blue and that he hates the winter. Surprisingly, Jim tells him things, too. He tells him about his dad and the accident with the jet, and the time where he accidentally kicked Ben Dawson in the face in his first year of school. He tells him that he's fluent in French, (Leonard asks him to say something in it; Jim throws a sugar packet while saying sweetly, "Quelque chose dedans." After translating it, Jim gets a good kick under the table.)

Soon enough, the first streaks of morning are spreading across the sky, and Jim knows he'll get his ass kicked for coming home now, but he just doesn't care. Leonard notices his repeated glancing out the window.

"You need to be gettin' home?"

"Yeah," Jim says. It's a shame; he thinks he could stay here and talk forever.

"Here." Leonard grabs a napkin and the pen from the spiral of his notepad and scribbles a series of numbers down. (Jim wonders why he didn't just use his notepad in the first place.) "Call me, yeah?"

"Sure thing...." His voice trails off and splits into a huge grin. "I'll call you soon..Bones."

"What did you just call me?"

"Call you later!"

As he leaves, he hears Leonard mumble a faint, "Dammit, Jim," under his breath, and Jim grins to himself all the way back home.

As predicted, the beating he gets when he gets home is unlike any others he's ever had. He takes it silently, and drags himself up to his room once he's finished, internally grateful that Frank allowed him to have his own room,even if it was to "keep him out of the way". He collapses onto his bed and pulls out the folded up napkin with Leonard - no, Bones' he thinks grinning to himself, number. He stares at it for a long while, and wonders if it's too early to call. It felt insane; he had known Leonard McCoy for not even 12 hours, and he had already become the most important person in Jim's life, out of the few he had. He swore as the butterflies swirled around in his stomach at the sight of 'Leo McCoy' scrawled across the napkin in spotty blue ink.

He spent the next week trying to build up the nerve to just fucking call him - c'mon, Kirk, be a man, he chastisted himself. And finally, finally, he did. He dialed in the six numbers and waited. The call picked up on the second ring.

"I have a feelin' this is the dumbass who gives me lame doctor nicknames."

"The one and only," Jim said, and he was positive Bones could hear his smirk through the phone.

"Took you long enough, darlin'," Leo drawled. "Been waitin' on it."

"Sorry, Bones."

"If you call me that again, Jim Kirk, so help me -"

"Whatever," Jim said, laughing.

The sound of Leo's laughter filled his ear, and Jim swore again internally. The damn butterflies were at it again. What, did he need some damn pesticide or what?

"So," Leo said abruptly, jerking Jim out of his thoughts. "Are you busy?"

"Never am," Jim said.

"Do you not have school, or something?"

"I graduated early."

"Oh? I'm learnin' more and more about you everyday, Jimmy."

"Oh, god."

"What, you can dish it out, but you can't take it?"

"My mom calls me Jimmy."

'She sounds like a lovely lady, then."

"Oh, shh."

"Anyways, as I was saying - I was thinkin' we could meet up somewhere."

"How about the diner again?" Jim suggested, trying to keep his excitement at Leonard wanting to see him down to the bare minimum.

"I hate that place."

"Diner it is, then. Nine sharp."

"Alright, kid."

"See ya then, Bones!"

"What did I say about that name?"

It took Leonard an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that Jim had already hung up.

 

Jim strolled into the diner, this time no longer fazed about the horribly mismatched decor, and was greeted by Leonard leaning against te counter, with a lazy, sarcastic smirk adorning his face.

"Is this piece of shit place our place now, then?"

Jim grinned. "You know it, Bones."

Leonard sighed dramatically.

"You're not gonna quit it, are you?"

"Never."

Leonard sighed again. "Then, I guess I'm going to have to get used to it."

"You planning on keeping me around?"

"Actually, yeah."

Jim whirled around.

Leonard raised his eyebrows. "Have a problem, kid?"

"Nope. None at all."

The days following that are really a blur.

He finds out Leonard's dad is never home, so Jim finds himself staying over there more often than he goes to his own home, if it was really that in the first place. He knows Frank and Winona don't miss him, and they most certainly don't care if he's gone. They learn more about each other: that Leonard's middle name is Horatio, (his mom has a fondness for Shakespeare), and Jim's is Tiberius (after his father's father). Leo's birthday is May 12, and Jim's is January 16.

And somehow, along the way, they fall in love with each other.

It starts with Leonard slipping his hand into Jim's while they're watching a modern remake of a classic sci-fi television series, and it progresses with gentle kisses and hands that ghosted around reverently.

Jim Kirk has always stood at the edge of the shore, letting the waves of love wash over his feet. Now. he meets Leonard McCoy, and he's diving in headfirst.

Leonard McCoy had always thought his parents' love was like a flower: it budded when the warmth came and shined it's rays, and shriveled up to die when the cold winds came. Now, he has Jim Kirk in his arms, and he thinks that he just doesn't have just a flower, but the whole damn garden.

Leonard proposes the idea, one night. They're lying in Leonard's backyard, looking up at the sky.

"We should get out of here."

Jim turns to look at him. "What?"

"Get out of here. Y'know, fly outta here. Make a life. You and me."

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Jim replies, and Leonard can't contain his smile.

Two weeks later, they're on a plane to San Francisco - they have an awesome medical program that Leo fell in love with, and Jim is just along for the ride. He'll figure out what he wants when he does.

The plane lifts off after exactly fifteen minutes of being stationary, and Jim knows out of all the stupid things he's done in his lifetime, this is definitely the stupidest.

When you're young, and in love, sometimes you do things that aren't really all that smart.

Looking back, they agree: while it wasn't the smartest, it definitely was the best.


End file.
